Georgia Tech Fans Costing Athletic Department Millions

Dan Radakovich and Paul Johnson must sit in their respective offices at 150 Bobby Dodd Way and shake their heads in disbelief. They look out at Bobby Dodd Stadium and must wonder how they are going to fill the seats next season. Not only does it look bad for recruiting and player morale, The Institute is losing millions of dollars. And with the “Big 3” games-Clemson, Virginia Tech and UGA-on the road this year, the revenue loss for the upcoming seasons has to be a hot topic for the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach with no solution in sight.

If you look at the 2011 football season, Tech lost just over $2.3 million in tickets sales at home football games alone. How did I come up with such a figure? Tech sold 337,622 of the potential 385,000 seats for its 2011 home games (87%.) With an average ticket price of $50 multiplied to the difference of 47,378 empty seats, a figure of around $2,368,900 in revenue lost can be attributed to seats that were not purchased during the season.

That is astronomical if you think that the number does not include any monies lost in concessions or merchandise sales. The ticket office even ran a few deals during the year which include the three for $99 for select ACC home games and the four tickets, four drinks, four hotdogs and a media guide for $100 for the Family Weekend game against UNC.